The Final Now, by Gregory Benford

Contrast the story in the previous post, Dark Sanctuary, with The Final Now.  Thirty years later Benford is confident enough to tackle an end of the universe story, and take a stab at defining the meaning of the Creation.  Talk about ambitious.  It's not as easy to read as Dark Sanctuary, but deeply interesting for what the author is undertaking. The necessity of finitude is built into Creation, and creation cannot happen without its limit.  Otherwise, you get the logical end point of the Many Worlds thesis--everything possible has happened, an infinite number of times.  That last sentence was mine, it's not part of Benford's point. Came from a Scientific American article on Hugh Everett's theory. 

In any case, this is a must to read if you appreciate religion, philosophy and science.  And a valiant attempt to get one's arms around the whole thing.  Three stars.